Sunday, November 26, 2006

I had a good day of writing

...but it's far too early to tell if it was a day of good writing. At times when I paused to give my hand a wee rest, I thought about my pen. It's hard to believe that Bic Biros sell at a rate of 57 pens per second. I wonder how fast my Papermate Flexgrip Ultra goes? Pretty fast I'd say, going by my output today. By day's end I'd tacked a few more pages on the wall. I'm especially pleased with the last little poem that popped out of me. It makes me giggle like a fool when I read it. H laughed when I read it to him. So, if nothing else, I had fun. The smile on my face right now looks much like this.

Actually, the fun began this morning. Instead of starting my day by reading poetry like I usually do, I attended a reading by Elizabeth Bachinsky. I suspect that's what influenced the tone of my last poem.

MY BOOKS

"Whether describing thunder or the flight patterns of ptarmigan, Schmidt does so poetically with a great sense of timing and rhythm. She has the sort of narrative voice that makes sitting in the grass keeping an ear out for birds philosophical and lively – something worth listening to." - Devin Pacholik, Global News Regina.Read more.

"Evoking the work of Don McKay, Trevor Herriot and Gerald Hill, Schmidt walks in some pretty big footsteps, and more than measures up. These essays colonize the middle ground between deep connection with place and concern for its ecological future, constantly questioning our troubled relationship with prairie process." - Judges' citation, Saskatchewan Book Award for Nonfiction nomination. Jurors: Barry Ferguson, Wayne Grady, Barry Grills.

"You can just feel the stones rattling off your undercarriage on this Grid." - Bill Robertson, The Star Phoenix. Read more.

"Like the Prairies, this is not a collection that gives itself away: the true beauty of this book lies in subtleties that may not be obvious at first glance." - Emily McGiffin, The Malahat Review. Read more.

"In Grid, moments are approached in their apparent stability only to be swept away in song rife with interruption and fresh stimuli, lending a new perspective. It is as though the familiar ground is an eye glancing back and the reflection only a nodal-point, open to opportunity and play." - Justin Dittrick, SPG Book Reviews.Read more.

"There is grit in these poems, so much that it seems unfair to think of them as nature poems; like the best nature writing, they undo our expectations of nature rather than uphold them." - Tanis MacDonald, Arc Poetry Magazine. Read more.

"In her fourth collection Grid, Schmidt’s wry humour transcends what we have watched heap up in Canada for more than a century—nature poems—balancing in canola fields between the beautiful lure of nature and our curious urge to separate ourselves from disappearing allotments of our own solace. We have wandered “off the grid” but fortunately Schmidt is an entertaining and insightful guide who can still find Li Po in a Dark-eyed Junco, if she has to." - Garry Thomas Morse, Jacket 2. Read more.

"Throughout More Than Three Feet of Ice, Schmidt reconfigures the commonplace elements of the North, what she knows, and what she doesn't know to achieve startling nuances. In her hands the seemingly insignificant is imbued with meaning and becomes an extraordinary book." - Lynda Grace Philippsen, Books in Canada.